The Plunge – Eric’s Icebreakers

Hey all,

Well the weekend was great – made quite a few new friends… of course or “team leader” who I knew from Facebook wasn’t phased when I introduced myself as “fred” – I wonder if I’m getting predictable (that will have to be another post)

So the team did great we raised over $4k + no one was lost in the cold ocean or blown away be the wind…

It was not the coldest I have ever been… it was cold 38F was the water temp – the air was 24F with something like 20 mph winds…

I plan to do it again next year – I’ve made a list of what to do different…

Thanks for your support,
D

(post created w/wordpress mobile for android)

Bullies in the news…

Hi All,

I guess we’ve come a long way – wish that meant something good…

I understand bullies – I remember way back when i had a run in or two…  The most notable i was cornered by a kids a few years older and seriously bigger…  a few days before he and his crew had attempted to snowball me into submission… 

Well, much like the days before this time it didn’t work either – I dropped him with a simply placed knee…  from that day on i never had another problem with him or any of his crew… 

I can educate my kids against this type of bullying junk…  it’s not a matter of fighting – that’s the last resort…  my son and i have already crossed the idea of a bully…  he has dealt with it perfectly and hasn’t had any problems… (that’s not to say it won’t happen)

this “new world order” we face – cyber bullying…  personally i think adding the *cyber* takes away from what it is …BULLYING…

I pray that my kids are raised to bring something like this to our attention – i certainly would trade all the advantages of the internet & mobile phones to ensure that my kids are safe…  time for discussions with the kids – hoping to ride that fine line of truth & love without scaring them into never wanting to leave the house…

it appears that schools around here haven’t done much to educate themselves and don’t appear to have much of a stance – the media around of course is pushing for laws…  the local schools lately have been forced to start talking about it – 2 suicides within the last year as a results of bullying (oh yeah – cyber)…  that’s just not right…

Sounds like a conversation we need to strike up with our school system – we need to be talking about real solutions…  I believe we are better off if we nip these things before we end up with a bunch of victims and bullies…

whatever happen to that old adage “an once of prevention” – how about we run through a few pounds of it before we rely on “after the fact” laws…

I’ll be talking to our school system… 

-D

From the hero

Hi all,

Just a quick post to test out mobile blogging… i tried it once from my windows mobile phone… to say that it didn’t work would be saying it nicely…

Well the android market listed this WP app… pretty simple app…

At this point I would say the WP app is pretty good.

I guess time will tell…

Have a great day,

a cold plunge (freezin’ for a reason)

Hey All,

with all the fund raising going on for the most excellent cause of saving lives and rebuilding Haiti – I’ve been very quiet asking for donations for my plunge…

I will be diving into the Atlantic Ocean on February 7 – to raise money for the New Hampshire Special Olympics.

I have reached my “goal” for this first timer at taking the plunge – However, it’s a great cause and although there are many things competing for our wallet’s love…  I feel like i must at least make it known to my friends that i am doing it…

So, please consider this joining me in this adventure…

I am not sure yet what the deal will be for video – at a minimum there will be some low quality video taken with our phones…  heck maybe we’ll even ustream it live… 

http://www.firstgiving.com/duncanphyfe

Thank you for any support you are able to give – have a great day.

-D

Ahava Kids

Hi All,

Hooked up with some old friends this weekend that I recently reconnected with thanks to FaceBook…  get tool…

So, in the course of discussions about “the weather” – that topic of Human Trafficking came up…  nothing like a nice light discussion with friends…

The topic never gets easy nor should it – I learned of a New England ministry doing something about it…  I was excited to see something local and yet disturbed that we need such a thing…

Check them out: http://www.ahavakids.org/safehouse.htm 

 

Thanks for listeing – pray for those in need.

-Duncan

Christmas & Introduction…

Hi All,

The celebration of Jesus’ birth is getting close – the house is pretty much excited and ready…  it will be a great day – early AM our family then follow by the extended arriving… 

As much as i don’t like all the commercial junk we see each starting ever earlier – eventually…  i get myself refocus on the Jesus’ birth and get excited… 

This year’s been fun – I even surprised my much better have by getting the tree up before our traditional time… 

Speaking of tradition – Let me you all to that awesome woman in my life’s blog: Life, Love & One crazy mutt…  She posted some nice thoughts on Christmas tradition (see it here).

I can tell you that for Christmas tradition is all about celebrating Jesus’ birth and family…  Growing up in a family where you dad is the choir/music directory at an Episcopal church there’s a boat of time spent at church during the Christmas season…  followed by time spent with family – as our my family grew in the knowledge of how good God is we held the family time more and more important…

of course there’s plenty of back story on the growing in the knowledge of how good God is… but we’ll get to those stories down the road, stay tuned… 

May you all have a great Christmas – God bless,

-D

Favorite Time of Year – nope it’s a pet peeve…

Hi All, (venting in this blog – sorry)

it’s been a while – i’m sorry about that…  life seems to be in overdrive and i am apparently stuck in reverse right this minute – i’m trying to catch up…

So, here we are… it’s that time of year again…  I know the majority of people love this time of year – personally it drives me up a wall…  i’ve started calling it shop-a-mas this year… 

I don’t understand how we can let such amazing holidays get swamped with the commercial hype…  Thanksgiving, Christmas, St. Nick, Chanukah, Kwanza, or whatever holiday there may be during this time of year i’m missing… I know one thing none of them are about selfish gift giving…

i find myself every year getting more and more frustrated with all the “hot gift” and “what do you want” – especially with all the economic junk hitting us all hard…  never mind we talk about helping the poor and we go out and buy ourselves something…

if we have to give gifts can we do something more meaningful then a something purchased that chances is made with poor quality and will break…

i think i’m going to have to go find my old wood burning kit and pretend like i’m 13 again and make create some hand made gifts for my family this year…  i’ve got to show the leadership of Christmas is all about… 

so, the answer to what i want for Christmas this year is to enjoy my family and friends – maybe sing some songs with each other…  live in the moment of hugs and laughter…  watch my son and daughter put on skits that they make up on the fly…  see my mom and dad smile at the sounds of their grandkids doing funny things…  prayerfully, maybe i can find a way to make someone in need have a better Christmas… 

well sorry to vent – but i just can’t handle hallmark & sears taking over… 

thanks for listening…

-D

EGO & Pride

going to steal a thought from a friend of mine – his blog is great…  so today i’m doing my own fill-in the blank friday…

so, here it is:

We all know it hurts to have our EGO/Pride hurt – so, my pride gets hurt when ___________.

I’ve been talking with a friend – then as we were discussing the topic further i was stopped dead in my tracks…  as i realized what we were really discussing was about our injured EGO/pride…  it’s no fun and can be quite painful i don’t want to minimize that but…

But let’s take look a little closer at our pain level:

• it’s not about us…  it does suck to have your ego knocked around a bit – we should be asking what God has for us…
• aren’t we blessed that our biggest hurt is our ego – what a blessing… we could be in a country that you can be killed for praising God…
• we could be hurting because we’ve been trapped in human trafficing and our bodies are nothing more then tools of a disgusting trade and no one around knows our name…

God has called us to be there for a hurting and broken world…  our lives are privilege and a blessing we should be crying out that there are people in this world that don’t get freedom or choice…

all this hurt is real – of course – a hurt ego hurts… but let’s look at it for a minute in a Godly light…  we need to look at things through HIS EYES!!!!!

in His grip, D

It can be a scary place

Hi All,

there’s not much worse then a little taste of what’s going on in the real world…  of late i’ve listened to much about human trafficing – it’s a scary world out there, if you are one of the kids that gets trapped in it…

we are talking about 27 million persons stolen from their lives and enslaved into an underworld sex trade – their passports are taken and their identity gone they are stuck in the underworld…

We should be all be offended and ticked-off by the simple fact that we haven’t been able to remove this from the face of the earth…  if this topic doesn’t make your blood boil – check your pulse you might need to laydown…

So, what can we do?  pray for them, of course…  pay attention – i’ll drop a few of the sites and such that i am aware of…

http://www.theA21campaign.org

http://born2fly.org/index_working.html

http://runforfreedom.net

http://dianascimone.typepad.com/diana_scimone/

check out these messages from the founder of The A21 Campaign:

http://www.lifechurch.tv/message-archive/watch/stop-acting-like-a-christian

this world is a broken place – we need savoir that will wipe out all of our stupid human tricks…  He will come again – let’s see how much we can improve the earth He comes back to…

‘til next time,

-D

being part of something big

Good Day -

yeah, it’s a strange title… but i think it works.

I have found that my time as coach of soccer/baseball with the local kids has brought me so much more then i have given…

this season it’s coaching soccer…

i’ve watched a child that goes from tears & fears to smiles & confidence… all it took was some encouragement& support…

then there’s the change – you know from painful play to “wow” these kids are getting it! how exciting to be a part of something so huge!

being a part of helping a child grow is more then “nice” it’s amazing & an honnor…

i’m learning better how to communicate – i’ve got to meet the kids where they are at if i have any hope of teaching them…

i’m learning how to be an ecourager- a quality that i don’t think is natural for me… it takes some work…

i’m learning again how much better it is to give then recieve- it takes work/willingness to get out there but it is really great to be part of the growing up process for these kids…

it takes a village to raise kids in an encouraging & supportive environment – it’s great to be part of the village and i am thankful for the others that have stepped up to help too, Great Job!

thanks all,